IndyCar veteran JR Hildebrand will take a 2027 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X to the summit of Pikes Peak this Sunday with intentions to break the 9:53 production car record. The target is the outright fastest time ever run by a production vehicle at the Colorado hill climb, a mark Hildebrand told GM News he intends to beat convincingly.
The ZR1X is a 1,250-hp hybrid that pairs a twin-turbo LT7 5.5-liter V8 making 1,064 hp with a front-axle electric motor adding 186 hp. The eAWD system splits power between the combustion engine at the rear and the electric drive unit up front. Hildebrand ran practice sessions at 11,000 feet and came away impressed by how the electric motor pulled the car out of hairpins into the turbo power band without the altitude penalties that thin air imposes on naturally aspirated engines.
The 12.42-mile course climbs from 9,400 feet at the start line to 14,100 feet at the finish through 156 corners with no guardrails. Hildebrand competes in the hybrid production class but aims for the overall production record regardless of powertrain. He drives the car in stock configuration: production exhaust, Michelin Cup 2R tires from the showroom floor with the ZTK Performance Package, no race-only modifications. The regulations allow a dealership-spec car to compete against purpose-built race machines on slicks, and Hildebrand said the ZR1X holds its own.
The ZR1X has already run an 8.675-second quarter mile and set the fastest Nürburgring lap time recorded by an American manufacturer in a production-spec car. The Pikes Peak attempt adds a third benchmark to that streak. Hildebrand described the hill climb as a pure motorsport challenge where the risk is overt and the exposure is real, a race that checks all the boxes as a driver even without the television audience that follows his IndyCar schedule.
The small battery pack regenerates and deploys energy efficiently across the course, which matters at altitude, where many entries fail to reach the summit each year. Hildebrand said the front drive unit’s contribution to handling and corner exit was immediately apparent during first practice runs, and he left that session confident the car was the right tool for the record attempt.
Race day is Sunday, June 21. Live timing runs throughout the weekend on the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb site.
Source: Chevrolet. Images courtesy of Chevrolet.
